1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a portable communication apparatus such as a portable telephone or the like, and relates, more particularly, to a portable communication apparatus having a function for displaying options to be selected on a display.
2. Description of Related Art
There have been proposed portable telephones having a selection means for selecting a desired one from various information items displayed on a display such as a liquid-crystal display or the like.
For example, a compact portable radio telephone apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication No. 4-29426 is provided with a scroll key for scrolling information on screen and ENTER keys disposed at positions corresponding to displayed options, respectively. And a user can select a necessary option from the displayed options by depressing the corresponding ENTER key.
Further, a portable telephone disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication No. 6-338931 is provided with a table in which dial numbers are registered and the user can select a registered dial number to display it on screen by depressing keys on a keypad that is changed into an abbreviated dialing mode. Thereafter, the user can make a call according to the selected dial number by depressing a calling key.
However, according to the above-described conventional telephone apparatuses, key operation is complex and a dialing procedure is cumbersome particularly in the case of dialing numbers used frequently. Thus, it has been necessary for the user to depress keys by moving fingers repeatedly. In the case of the above-described apparatus using the scroll key and ENTER keys to select a desired option, it is necessary to select it by moving a finger to the corresponding ENTER button each time the desired option is displayed by scrolling. The reason is that the ENTER buttons are disposed at preset positions under the display screen.
Further, according to the other method of selecting a registered number by changing the key operation into an abbreviated dialing mode, it is not only necessary to change the key operation into the abbreviated dialing mode but also to search for a desired telephone number through key operation in the abbreviated dialing mode. Further, a calling key operation is additionally required for dialing.